The Valkyrie's search for the woman she was has
lead her, her fellow Defenders and the Thing, to Cobbler's Roost, Vermont, a
quiet little town in the Green Mountain state. Outside the home of Barbara
Denton's father, Doctor Strange and Nighthawk watch on as the Thing, seated in
the Fantasticar, raises his hand and waves goodbye to Dr. Strange and Nighthawk.
As the Thing flies off, the two Defenders wave back to the solo member of the
Fantastic Four after expressing their gratitude and appreciation for his helping
Val defeat the Executioner and the Enchantress (see
Defenders #20).

Created
full-grown, without memory, without a past, by the magic of the Enchantress,
Valkyrie inhabits the body of Barbara Denton, a person she never knew, but is
coming to know. In the day just past, she has been reunited with her
father...and seen him die. She has just met several of Barbara's acquaintances
in Cobbler's Roost, and she has made one very disturbing recovery...one she has
not yet shared with Nighthawk or Dr. Strange.

As Ben's vehicle disappears into the distance,
Strange turns to Nighthawk and asks him if he has noticed how silent and
withdrawn Valkyrie has become since they defeated Van Nyborg's cult that
morning. Nighthawk comments that he is surprised she can function at all
considering all that she has gone through on top of having to live in a house
where she and her family spent their summers. He remarks that she must feel like
the only living thing in a house full of ghosts. The pair enter the house to
find Val in the living room, quietly flipping through an old photo album. Her
eyes go over the pictures it contains but she finds nothing familiar, even
though they all mark important moments in the life of Barbara Denton. She
whispers that although she feels she should know these people, these places,
they mean nothing to her, not even the face of her...husband.

Nighthawk is taken aback when he hears that Val
is married and he asks her if she still loves him. The Valkyrie snaps the photo
album shut in frustration and exclaims that how can she possibly know that? Val
decides that the only way to find out the truth is to confront him. Strange
suggests that he should accompany her in the event that her husband reacts
oddly. Val thanks Strange for his concern but asks him to understand that she
must do this alone. Abruptly, Kyle bursts in obvious frustration sarcastically
commenting that he will try to understand how she forgot she was married. He
storms out of the room telling Val to give her "hubby" his fondest regards and
indicating that he has another iron or two in the fire anyway. Val is perplexed
with his sudden change in behaviour, she cannot understand why Nighthawk is so
upset...it is Dr. Strange who enlightens Valkyrie by asking her if she was not
aware that Kyle had held great affection for her. Nighthawk leaves the house and
heads back to the city.

Meanwhile, in Westbury, Connecticut, a man bids
his wife farewell as he heads out to an afternoon of golf. As he steps out his
front door, he is horrified to find a huge green behemoth standing over his
children as they play skip-rope on the front lawn. Having leaped across the
continent on the world's most powerful legs, a certain incredible green giant
has chosen to pause here, to watch these happy little people at play. He likes
children. Their laughter soothes his spirit, makes his smile...while an
awe-struck neighbourhood trembles. As the Hulk bends down to pat a small child's
head in admiration of her skipping talent, the child's father looks on in horror
as he mistakes the actions of the emerald Defender. He rushes the Hulk in anger
but is easily rebuffed by the shoulder of the Hulk. Turning, the green goliath
spies the stunned suburbanite sprawled on the lawn at his feet. The Hulk angered
by the man's intrusion into his fun with the children raises his arms high over
his head in preparation to smash the "puny human". But, as the jade-skinned
giant presses his eyes shut, grits his teeth and brings down his clasped hands
with pile-driver force, the man, driven by pure panic propels himself to safety.
Alas, the same cannot be said of his home as the Hulk's blow to the ground sets
up a shock-wave which courses across the lawn and brings down the house! And
then, the Hulk himself is struck with the cruelest blow of all. His diminutive
friend, wailing hysterically, pounds savagely on his massive kneecap. Screaming
that he broke her house and hurt her daddy. The Hulk, turns from the crying girl
with tears in his own eyes. He bemoans that all he wanted to do was have fun and
apologizes and with a mighty leap, he bounds off, leaving the girl's father
wondering what he is going to do with a ruined house. No one really seems to pay
much attention to a neighbour who was watching on and who now breathes a sigh
of relief: Dr. Arthur Nagan.

While others rush to aid their stricken
neighbour, Nagan returns his attention to his own affairs. Peering over his
shoulder, he believes he feels their eyes on him wondering why he does not join
them. Or maybe, they are pitying him for his stooped posture, or his shuffling
gait. With a half-hearted smile he shrugs it all off and enters his home. Inside
his quiet suburban home there is a well-stocked laboratory. Hard at work we find
Dr. Nagan's associate, Jerry Morgan, carefully pouring a solution from one flask
to another. Jerry asks Nagan what all the commotion was outside and then before
he hears an answer, exclaims that the mixture they have been working on is now
quite stable. Dr. Nagan, excited by the news that a correct formula may have
been found with which he may exact his revenge, removes a glove he wears to
reveal a blue furred hand, capped with sharp nails. Jerry is not as melodramatic
and as he turns, he reveals himself: his head is large and misshapen, his face
hanging from his skull like melted wax. Jerry reminds Nagan that the formula is
useless unless they find the proper head to receive it. With a note of surprise
in his voice, Nagan informs Jerry that he has, indeed, found the person they
have been searching for...

At virtually the same instant, a jet-propelled
Nighthawk lands at Kyle Richmond's Park Avenue penthouse. Nighthawk quietly
mumbles that he brought it all on himself, citing his weakness for weird women.
Suddenly, he is brought out of his thoughts by an old girlfriend, model Trixie
Starr who had let herself into his

apartment. So shocked is he to see her, he
forgets that he is dressed as Nighthawk. Trish, as she explains she now prefers
to be called, asks him about his Hallowe'en costume. So, Nighthawk sits her down
and explains to her about his recent association with the Defenders. Long and
bizarre, but in the half-hour or so that follows, Kyle tells all: The
Grandmaster, The Squadron Sinister and by the time he comes to Cobbler's Roost,
Trish Starr is left staring and speechless.

On the evening of the same day, a bleary-eyed
Bruce Banner staggers from an alley way onto the sidewalks of Greenwich Village.
Grasping his head and hobbling like a drunk, he makes his way to the sanctum of
Dr. Strange. Inside, Clea and Strange look in on Val who seems lost in deep and
private thoughts. They realize they can do nothing more for her. Clea suddenly
hears someone at the front door and reluctantly, Strange and Clea move to answer
it. As Bruce stumbles inside in near total exhaustion, he is aided by Strange to
a nearby armchair, where he is left to recover. Valkyrie, upon hearing the
commotion, rushes in to see what is happening. The team ponders that calamity
that this day has brought them.

The next few hours however, pass in relative
calm. Banner is shown upstairs to a guest room and summarily falls into a deep
sleep as the evening moves on toward midnight. Meanwhile beneath a viaduct of
the West Side highway, Dr. Nagan and Jerry Morgan appear to be waiting. Jerry
comments that it is too bad that the two of them are unable to accept the serum.
They are not trained to probe beyond the earthly sphere...they need a visionary,
a seer. Suddenly, high above them a speck of light appears. But, it grows larger
as it draws closer, descending into their presence like a living borealis...the
multi-hued aura of Chondu the Mystic! The magician remarks that he, like the
other Headmen, has been ostracized from his colleagues and from society. Like
Jerry Morgan, whose experiments in cellular compression predated even those of
Henry Pym but which ended in his disastrous disfiguration. He turns his
attention to Dr. Nagan whose work on organ transplants worked too well. The apes
he used as donors rebelled, somehow gained human intellect and grafted his head
onto one of their bodies. Indeed, as Nagan removes his jacket, he reveals the
body of a gorilla. Facing them both after removing his turban, Chondu remarks
that he has investigated them both thoroughly and has decided to join them in
their venture.

Employing a strange diamond tipped hypodermic
drill, Nagan injects the Morgan Serum directly into Chondu's skull. Almost at
once, the mystic's brain cells react. Impulses race from neuron to neuron at
shorter and shorter intervals, the interior of his head is a veritable electron
blaze. And, he enters a trance that is more than a trance. According to plan, he
probes further than he ever dared before beyond our universe...for a weapon! The
fingers of his unconsciousness reach out, clutch and pull...drawing a nightmare
into our world. A sinister dream that dissolves into a black rain and seeps into
sleeping minds throughout the city. Of course, the phenomenon is not a physical
one...nor even visible...to those who are awake this night.

High on the balcony garden of his expensive
penthouse, still attired in his superhero costume, Nighthawk ponders the evening
he just spent talking aimlessly with Trish. He left her sleeping on his couch
where she drifted off in mid-sentence. Suddenly, a shriek startles Kyle out of
his reverie. He turns in time to see Trish come racing out of the living room
onto the roof garden, eyes wide open but seeing nothing save the dream terror.
Nighthawk yells at her to stop and moves with incredible speed and grabs her by
the wrists just before she nearly plunges fifty stories to the street below.
But, she seems not to hear his anguished cries...nor even feel his powerful hands
upon her. He shakes her, her body snaps forward and back, whip-like. But the
nightmare will not relax its grip. Trish continues to writhe and scream, until
Kyle takes drastic action. He slaps her hard across the face and only then does
the tautness in every muscle begin to dissipate as she loses
consciousness.

As Nighthawk cradles her in his arms wondering
what it is that she could be dreaming of, he hears screaming and the sounds of
panic from the streets below. Setting Trish down gently, he races back to the
parapet and gazes in horror at the madness below. Thousands of sleeping New
Yorkers, in assorted states of dress and undress, leap from windows, race
blindly into traffic, their voices commingling in a continuous siren-like shriek,
as they all run from the same nameless haunter...as midtown Manhattan becomes an
arena of death and dementia.

And, the situation in Greenwich Village is no
better. Dr. Strange and Val exit from the sanctum and watch on the street as
hundreds of people flee some invisible madness. Suddenly, from the guest room
above the Hulk smashes through the window and into the street where he pound a
car into a mess of steel and glass. Val and Strange realize that whatever has
plagued the masses has also affected the sleeping Bruce Banner. Now, they are
faced not only with a screaming populace but also a behemoth gone
berserk!

Valkyrie reacts swiftly, in the only manner
natural to her. She unsheathes the sword which hangs invisibly at her hip,
causing her battle garb to appear. She runs to intercept the mindless Defender
before he can do further damage. Standingnear the Hulk, she pleads for him to
stop endangering lives with his behaviour. But, the monster is asleep and his
already limited vocabulary is thus further reduced...to the language of brute
force. With one powerful swipe, he knocks the Valkyrie aside like a rag doll.
Strange attempts a magical spell but for some reason he senses a mystic
interference of incredible magnitude which blocks his spells.

Meanwhile, on 47th Street, better known as New
York's "diamond row", the gorilla-bodied Dr. Nagan smashes window after window
and scoops the diamonds therein in great handfuls while those around him scream
senselessly. Netting themselves a small fortune, Dr. Nagan hopes that his
strength, Chondu's talents and Morgan's serum will further the Headmen in their
quest to control and conquer the world! Unbeknownst to Dr. Nagan, Nighthawk
spots the thieving figure from high above, he swoops down and wallops Nagan from
behind. However, Nighthawk is startled to discover that the skulking figure he
attacked is not quite human. Without warning, Nagan wallops Kyle in the head
with the sack of gems he carries putting Nighthawk out for the count.

Minutes later, across town, Nagan arrives just
in time to discover Chondu passing out, just as Jerry predicted. They bundle up
the prone mystic into their car and escape the city before the police are out in
full force. Meanwhile, in the Village, Strange assists Val to her feet as the
madness which gripped the city stops as suddenly as it started. The Hulk stands
baffled, embarrassed that her hurt his friend, the Valkyrie. Val and Strange
assure him that they understand. Strange expresses his frustration that they
have no clue as to who was responsible for the outbreak of madness when
suddenly, Nighthawk arrives and relates that he may have a clue. Kyle then goes
on to explain to the Defenders about the apeman-thief he encountered. He also
apologizes to Val and Strange for his earlier behaviour. Strange ponders if they
have heard the last of him, or if this has all been but a prelude to the
weirdest menace the Defenders have ever faced...